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Denise Morrison, CEO Campbell Soup

Our next feature is quite interesting, ranked 81st in Forbes’ 2013 list of the world’s most powerful women, Denise Morrison has this blood type AB running in her veins – as in Ambition and Business.

Campbell Soup’s Denise Morrison

Well, this was how her parents brought her up. While her father, Dennis Sullivan, imparted everything he knew about “business”; her mother, Connie Sullivan instilled to her that ambition is part of femineity.

Hmm… in fact, this kind of upbringing was how all four of the Sullivan sisters were raised. And true enough, they all eventually had successful business careers – even being featured in a Wall Street Journal article in 2007 entitled “Raising Women to be Leaders.” That’s great!

At any rate, prior to joining Campbell Soup, Morrison was EVP and GM of Kraft Foods’ Snacks and Confections division; and actually had stops with several companies from Procter & Gamble to Pepsi Cola to Nestle to Nabisco Food Company before ending up with her current employer…

…which was by August 2011 at Campbell Soup where she was given the reins as its Chief Executive. From then on, she mapped out strategies for the 143-year-old food company to help it out of the rut.

Before we go any further, what is Campbell Soup Company? Well, it’s a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality consumer food products like simple meals, soup, baked snacks, and healthy beverages.

As reported by Forbes, from only 3 products in 2010 and 2011, Campbell may have well introduced over 50 new products including 32 new soups between August 2012 and August 2013 – making a big leap in its determined efforts for a turnaround.

This year, the plan has focused even more and realigned it on young professionals. For their sake, hope the plan works. Yet in most every case that many of you may not recognize, this does not necessarily mean dollars or market share, but how successful could Morrison turn nonconsumers to consumers. After all, she’s one of the most decorated leaders in her field.

Let us then finish her story by citing her dedication to her chosen domain.

Looking closely, she had served the board for several health and wellness initiatives. Very good. Among them were the Consumer Goods Forum, and the Food Industry Crusade Against Hunger. However, what would be striking here is her being a founding member of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, which is composed of manufacturers and retailers designed to combat obesity in the market place, work place, and in schools.

Why is that “striking”?

Well, what happened to the initiative? Many are still suffering from obesity. And many who are obese are not given the opportunities for work, instead, they are discriminated. Shouldn’t Morrison be doing something about it? As mentioned in my previous post – discrimination does not start and end with gender inequality. Look around you, many are stereotyped.